Copper Creek

Did a private trip to Copper Creek trail to check out the approach to Lightning peak.  A trail report on WTA from the 19th of February mentioned that there were many blowdowns and a landslide blocking the trail.  My partner and I decided what the heck we are used to dealing with blowdowns so lets take a look.  

Well what we encountered was an understatement.   In our hour and a half we spent on the trail today we only made it right around a half mile up it.  Our progress was extremely slow due to navigating over and under what we could.  Due to the trail being located in a ravine and right next to the creek you have no way to go around any of the blowdowns.  Instead you are forced to either go up the side of the gully or down into the creek.  We did both.  Due to the steepness of the gully going up the side could prove very dangerous since a slip or fall could cause serious injury.   Once we passed the second large landslide my partner called it for the day and said lets go find another trail we might actually be able to walk up.  

Crossing the first bridge.  A sign of things to come.  Photo credit Dani Repp

The first landslide we encountered.  This one seemed to be still ongoing as it had a continuous stream of rocks falling from above.  It has completely destroyed around 50 feet of the trail.   This one was not noted in the trip report I had previously read.

The second much larger landslide.  This one took out maybe fifty yards of the trail.  I went high over and under trees and then descended back to the actual trail.  I guided my partner on a low path through the mess.  Once we regained the trail my partner made the call that this was not going to work today. 

Once we got back to the car we decided to go over and hike Staircase instead.